Urban Education in the United Kingdom: Section Editor’s Introduction

Abstract

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the section which examines urban education in the UK. The collection of chapters captures different understandings and discourses of urban education in diverse social, economic and political contexts: which includes perspectives from England, Scotland and Ireland. The themes focus particularly on aspects of inequalities in relation to understanding urban education in relation to ‘race’, class, wealth, space, migration and marginalisation. The UK has seen significant changes in educational policy making, which have contributed to greater educational inequalities. The chapters in this section emphasise the importance of challenging such inequalities and the need for progressing a social justice agenda, particularly in relation to urban education in the UK.